What Happens in Vegas....

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Sorry I have been so busy. I mentioned in a previous post all that is going on in my life this month. The first week of October my two daughters (23 and 26) and I went to Las Vegas to see one of the last shows Donny and Marie are performing at the Flamingo Las Vegas. Gotta say, Flamingo should NOT be selling tickets in the last couple of rows of the balcony. We could not see the front of the stage, even standing up on the bottom rung of our bar stool. Yes, the last two rows of the balcony were chairs and bar stools that had been added to make room for more people,and make them more money. Yes, there were big screens but a lot of the time they were showing old videos of the Osmonds and Donny and Marie. I was not impressed. I don't know how much my kids paid for those tickets (my birthday present), but that was quite the rip-off. Also, Donny has said in many interviews that he stays until he has greeted every last fan. Well, that's not really the case. Meet and greets are only for those who paid for VIP seats (first front 4 rows or so). That didn't stop me from breaking into tears when the curtain rose and Donny and Marie made their way down the steps. My girls were laughing at me as I tried to wipe them away. There were some empty seats next to us so we moved down the row a bit as we stood to clap and dance and sing along. Part way through the show Donny talked about his new album coming out. He said he was going to give a free CD to someone who posted on any picture on his Facebook page. People yelled out that they were told to turn their phones off or they left them in their room. Meanwhile my girls and their quick thumbs posted on his page... they were the ONLY people who posted on his page. Donny sang a song and then called out my daughter's name. He said picked her because she stated she was 23. When the camera found us in the crowd he asked her if she knew who he was. They carried on a conversation with her yelling back to him from the back row of the balcony. He couldn't see her though. Because of THIS we got to go to the meet and greet. They moved the VIPs back so they could line them up and sat us right in front where we watched it all because we met them last. "Tell me the truth", Donny said to my daughter, "You won this for your mother, didn't you?" She said, "Yes, it's her birthday." We took the group picture you see above and then Marie said she had to get to L.A. (which is slightly ridiculous because it's only an hour by helicopter and she wasn't doing The Talk until the next day). So I never got to really meet her. But Donny and I had an extensive conversation about living in Toronto. My daughter told him she grew up on Joseph (and the Technicolour Dreamcoat). I said the VHS is still in our house. He seemed surprised by that. As he handed me the CD he wished me a happy birthday. So... another check on my bucket list, guys. What started to look like a bummer of an evening turned out to be thrilling. When I first met Donny I squeezed his arm and said, "Are you real?" Man, you should have heard us scream when he called out my daughter's name. I couldn't believe it. I was so, so, so happy. Paula Abdul is taking over the Flamingo residency. If you are buying tickets, don't get balcony seats. Just saying. P.S. The picture was taken by their professional photographers. No one was allowed to take their own photos. Had to pay $49 for that. The VIPs has several to choose from. Imagine if they wanted to buy more than one!